- Paraguay: Nearly five million without electricity amid heat wave
Source: United Press International
“A massive blackout left nearly five million people without electricity in Paraguay amid a heat wave that pushed temperatures above 108 degrees Fahrenheit across large parts of the country and as high as 116 degrees Fahrenheit in some areas, according to local meteorological reports. The outage affected 90% of customers of the National Electricity Administration, or ANDE, the state-run company that supplies nearly the entire population of 6.4 million people. The interruption on Wednesday also disrupted drinking water services in urban areas due to reliance on electric pumping systems. Nearly 24 hours after the blackout, service had not been fully restored.” (02/19/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2026/02/19/latam-Paraguay-blackout-heat-wave/2741771521283/
- US regime pays about $160 million of the nearly $4 billion it owes the United Nations
Source: Seattle Times
“The United States has paid about $160 million of the nearly $4 billion it owes the United Nations, the U.N. said Thursday. The Trump administration’s payment is earmarked for the U.N.’s regular operating budget, U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric told The Associated Press. The U.N. has said the United States owes $2.196 billion to its regular budget, including $767 million for this year, and $1.8 billion for a separate budget for the far-flung U.N. peacekeeping operations. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned last month that the world body faces ‘imminent financial collapse’ unless its financial rules are overhauled or all 193 member nations pay their dues, a message clearly directed at the United States.” (02/19/26)
- US weekly jobless claims fall more than expected amid labor market stability
Source: Reuters
“The number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, consistent with a stabilizing labor market. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 23,000 to a seasonally adjusted 206,0000 for the week ended February 14, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 225,000 claims for the latest week. Last week’s drop marked a signficant decline in claims since they jumped to 232,000 at the end of January. … The claims data covered the week during which the government surveyed employers for the nonfarm payrolls portion of February’s employment report. Job growth accelerated in January, though nearly all the employment gains came from the healthcare and social assistance sector.” (02/19/26)
- Palestine: Israeli squatters murder American
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune
“Clashes in the Israeli-occupied West Bank killed a 19-year-old Palestinian-American man late Wednesday night, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. The ministry said Nasrallah Muhammad Jamal Abu Siyam was shot by [squatters] in the village of Mukhmas, north of Jerusalem. The Israeli military said soldiers responded to a violent confrontation in the area and attempted to disperse a riot. The military said that suspects shot at several Palestinians, who were evacuated for medical treatment.Abu Siyam’s mother told The Associated Press that he also held American citizenship. The U.S. Embassy did not respond to requests for comment Thursday.” (02/19/26)
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2026/02/19/west-bank-palestinian-american-killed/
- Iran: Regime issues NOTAM amid tensions with US; pilots advised to steer clear as Islamic Republic plans rocket launches
Source: mint [India]
“Iran issued a notice to airmen (NOTAM) on Thursday, warning of potential rocket activity in the airspace. It was issued amid escalating tensions with the US, which has deployed warships near the Islamic Republic. US Vice President JD Vance reportedly said Washington was weighing whether to continue diplomatic engagement with Tehran or pursue other options. According to the alert, pilots are advised to avoid flying between ground level and Flight Level 100 in the affected region due to safety risks linked to possible launches, as shown by the Flightradar24 tracker. The NOTAM mentioned that Iran has planned rocket launches in areas across its south on Thursday from 330 GMT to 1330 GMT, news agency Reuters reported, citing the US Federal Aviation Administration website.” (02/19/26)
- FDA to drop two-study requirement for new drug approvals, aiming to speed access
Source: SFGate
“The Food and Drug Administration plans to drop its longtime standard of requiring two rigorous studies to win approval for new drugs, the latest change from Trump administration officials vowing to speed up the availability of certain medical products. Going forward, the FDA’s ‘default position’ will be to require one study for new drugs and other novel health products, FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary and a top deputy, Dr. Vinay Prasad, wrote in a New England Journal of Medicine piece published Wednesday. The announcement is the latest example of Makary and his team changing longstanding FDA standards and procedures with the stated goal of slashing bureaucracy and accelerating the availability of new medicines. Since arriving at the agency last April, Makary has launched a series of directives that he says will shorten FDA reviews, including mandating the use of artificial intelligence by staffers and offering one-month drug assessments for new medications that serve ‘national interests.'” (02/19/26)
- In Defense of Sanctuary Cities
Source: The Dispatch
by Ilya Somin“Sanctuary cities and states have been a major focus of political conflict in the second Trump administration, perhaps even more than in the first. These jurisdictions refuse or severely limit assistance to federal efforts to detain and deport suspected illegal immigrants. Most only provide such assistance in cases involving undocumented migrants who have committed serious crimes. Regardless of the politics, the 10th Amendment protects sanctuary jurisdictions from compulsion by the federal government. And their policies are also well justified on moral and pragmatic grounds. This is particularly true at a time when many federal immigration enforcement efforts are cruel and illegal.” (02/19/26)
- In Mamdani’s New York City, It’s “Democratic Socialists” vs. Workers
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp“The premise of socialism is ‘worker control of the means of production,’ and the gig economy is far and away the most successful experiment in human history when it comes to achieving that. Gig workers own their tools. Gig workers set their own hours. Gig workers choose who they work for, where they work, and what kind of work they do. Gig workers even set their own salaries by accepting the individual tasks that meet their pay requirements and rejecting those that don’t. Mamdani and friends hate that worker control with a passion. To them, worker happiness and welfare only matter to the extent that they can claim credit for, and gain power from, that happiness and welfare. … if anyone, anywhere, somehow manages to make a living without Mamdani’s permission, why, that’s ‘exploitation.'” (02/19/26)
- Crime As Proxy For Disorder
Source: Astral Codex Ten
by Scott Alexander“[P]eople hate crime and think it’s going up. But actually, crime barely affects most people and is historically low. So what’s going on? In our discussion yesterday, many commenters proposed that the discussion about ‘crime’ was really about disorder. Disorder takes many forms, but its symptoms include litter, graffiti, shoplifting, tent cities, weird homeless people wandering about muttering to themselves, and people walking around with giant boom boxes shamelessly playing music at 200 decibels on a main street where people are trying to engage in normal activities. When people complain about these things, they risk getting called a racist or a ‘Karen.’ But when they complain about crime, there’s still a 50-50 chance that listeners will let them finish the sentence without accusing them of racism. … might this explain why people act like crime is rampant and increasing, even when it’s rare and going down?” (02/19/26)
https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/crime-as-proxy-for-disorder
- AI, Technology, and Work
Source: EconLog
by Jon Murphy“Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is upending professions as diverse as art, cinema, accounting, national defense, and education. Some even argue that AI will render almost all work obsolete. They say its ability to ‘think’ and accomplish tasks previously solely in the realm of human ability will mean that humans will not need to work; the machines will do everything for us. Whether this would be a good thing or a bad thing depends on the story one wants to tell.” (02/19/26)
- On Foreign Policy, AOC Is Just More of the Same
Source: The American Conservative
by Eldar Mamedov“lexandria Ocasio-Cortez went to the Munich Security Conference to introduce herself to the world as a foreign policy thinker. She returned having demonstrated something else entirely: that the Democratic Party’s progressive star has absorbed the establishment’s worst ideas while shedding only its least popular rhetoric.” (02/19/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/on-foreign-policy-aoc-is-just-more-of-the-same/
- 85 Seconds to My Own Midnight? Working for a Nuclear-Free Future
Source: TomDispatch
by Frida Berrigan“‘I’m not scared, you’re scared!’ is the repeated line in a children’s story we recently read to the kids at the Unitarian Universalist version of Sunday school I attend with my children. In that story, a scared bear and a brave rabbit, who (naturally!) are best friends, go on a hike together. Rabbit has to cajole and encourage Bear through every imaginable obstacle, but in the end (of course!) it’s Rabbit who gets stuck at the crucial moment and has to call on Bear for help. Bear (no surprise) sets aside his fears to rescue his friend and (tada!) finds new depths of bravery and adventurousness in the process. After we read the story, the kids worked together to build paths from blocks and Legos through the imagined obstacles in the story — a bridge over a rushing river, a path through a dark forest, a staircase up a steep mountain.” (02/19/26)
- Attacking Iran Would Be Monstrous
Source: Eunomia
by Daniel Larison“There is no cause for war. The U.S. government is preparing to attack another country not because of anything that its government has done or threatened to do to us, but solely because the president feels like doing it. The president created the current crisis by making reckless threats and then by ordering a massive buildup in preparation to carry them out. We know that he has been goaded into doing this by the Israeli prime minister and hardliners here at home, but in the end the decisions and the responsibility are his and his alone. No one can explain what the president wants to achieve by attacking Iran.” (02/19/26)
https://daniellarison.substack.com/p/attacking-iran-would-be-monstrous
- The Capitalism “Stranger Things” Runs On — But Pretends Not to Like
Source: The Daily Economy
by Kimberlee Josephson“When Jonathan declares his artistic ambitions are anti-capitalist, it clashes with everything the show has relied on for five seasons. The finale demonstrates better jobs, bigger dreams, and individual agency rely on voluntary exchange.” (02/19/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/the-capitalism-stranger-things-runs-on-but-pretends-not-to-like/
- Trump Promised to Drain the Swamp; Turns Out He’s Best Friends With the Swamp Monster
Source: OtherWords
by Sonali Kolhatkar“Attorney General Pam Bondi’s contentious House hearing about the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein files offered a clear message to the nation: Sex trafficking of women and minors is perfectly acceptable as long as wealthy white men do it. Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced late sex trafficker, fixer, and political networker, was found to have ties to huge number of the world’s elites on both sides of the political aisle—including Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Ehud Barak, Bill Gates, Steve Bannon, Larry Summers, Bill Clinton, and of course, Donald Trump. For years, Trump’s conservative backers have attacked LGBTQ+ people, drag queens, immigrants, and others, claiming a desire to protect women and children from rapists and groomers. Trump even boasted that ‘whether the women liked it or not,’ he would ‘protect’ them from migrants, whom he slandered as ‘monsters’ who ‘kidnap and kill our children’.” (02/19/26)
https://otherwords.org/the-epstein-class-they-are-the-elites-they-pretend-to-hate/
- Maybe we should make ChatGPT less “WEIRD”
Source: Sex and the State
by Cathy Reisenwitz“It’s too early, obviously, to know whether LLMs like ChatGPT will make people more or less lonely on-net. In a new paper, (which I just wrote about) called Vicious Circles: Social Isolation and Poverty, my friend Michael Tanner cited research showing that some AI features moderately reduced loneliness in the near-term. However, people felt more lonely, more dependent, and did less socializing in the real world after heavy daily use. I think this matters because six years ago I wrote that loneliness is the biggest problem facing modernity. I have not changed my mind.” (02/19/26)
https://cathyreisenwitz.substack.com/p/maybe-we-should-make-chatgpt-less
- Tired of Dystopian Sci-Fi? You Might Like Solarpunk.
Source: Mother Jones
by Clive Thompson“I was doomscrolling again. It was a fall evening in 2023, and I found myself sucked into a stream of posts about our collapsing climate: droughts causing billions in Dust Bowl–style crop damage, Florida’s worst-ever coral bleaching, a record melt in Greenland. To distract myself, I picked up The Lost Cause, the latest sci-fi novel from author Cory Doctorow, a friend and fellow nerd. To my deep surprise, it stirred something unexpected: a feeling of hope. … Doctorow’s book is part of a sci-fi trend that’s gained traction in recent years, picking up on the threads Le Guin and Robinson laid down. Solarpunk poses a fascinating question: What would a world that had seriously tackled climate change look like?” (02/19/26)
- The CBO’s latest report and the choice between reform and disorder
Source: Orange County Register
by Veronique de Rugy“Despite what progressives have been arguing lately, the United States does not have a tax problem. Federal revenues, even after last year’s extension of the Trump tax cuts, are running above their historical average as a share of GDP. What America has is a spending problem so large that the Congressional Budget Office’s latest 10-year outlook reads less like a fiscal forecast than a warning label.” (02/19/26)
- Mamdani’s budget ultimatum for Gov. Hochul is a crisis of his own making
Source: New York Post
by Ken Girardin & John Ketcham“Budgets are usually about choices, but Mayor Mamdani’s fiscal 2027 budget proposal presents Gov. Hochul and state lawmakers with just one: They can sign off on the suite of tax hikes he’s demanded, or he’ll ask the City Council for a painful property tax increase of almost 10%. The mayor has complained — not without some merit — that the Adams administration lowballed expenses. If the city’s finances are truly in ‘crisis’ condition, the appropriate response is triage. But the mayor has yet to administer even basic first aid. The ‘chief spending officers’ he tasked with trimming spending haven’t yet made suggestions, and the phrase ‘hiring freeze’ hasn’t been uttered. Instead, he’s sending property owners to the hospital with a 9.5% property tax hike.” (02/18/26)
- How to Organize Safely in the Age of Surveillance
Source: Wired
by Andy Greenberg & Lily Hay Newman“From threat modeling to encrypted collaboration apps, we’ve collected experts’ tips and tools for safely and effectively building a group — even while being targeted and tracked by the powerful.” (02/19/26)
- How Trump Media collapsed
Source: Popular Information
by Judd Legum“Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG), the parent company of Truth Social, has an unrivaled free source of publicity. President Trump, who is also TMTG’s largest shareholder, posts extensively on the Truth Social platform, sometimes dozens of times in a single day. He is essentially leveraging the full weight of the presidency, the world’s most powerful office, to drive awareness of TMTG’s offerings. Yet, by all objective metrics, TMTG is failing. The stock price, which trades under the ticker symbol DJT, peaked at nearly $62 in March 2024, shortly after the company went public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). On February 17, DJT stock closed below $10 per share, an all-time low. (It rallied modestly on Wednesday, closing at $10.48.) What happened?” (02/19/26)
- America is enjoying an industrial renaissance
Source: spiked
by Tom Bailey“By 2020, China accounted for almost 30 per cent of global manufacturing output vs America’s 17 per cent. As useful as America’s immense power over the global financial system is, the relative decline of its industrial strength compared with its primary geopolitical competitor is a major source of weakness. … Trump brought this to the fore of American politics. His 2016 election campaign tapped into the social dysfunction wrought by the decline of manufacturing, while his attitude and rhetoric toward China was driven by a sense of loss of national power. Policy, however, was light. … the industrial revival didn’t really get going until the election of Joe Biden. While the Biden administration kept, and expanded, tariffs on China, it was its explicit turn to industrial policy that changed the trajectory. … Meanwhile, Trump’s tariffs have likely already led to shedding of US manufacturing jobs.” (02/19/26)
- As Consumer Confidence Sags, Policy Prescriptions Miss the Mark
Source: Cato Institute
by Romina Boccia“year into President Trump’s second term, inflation may have eased, falling from 3 percent year-over-year in January 2025 to 2.7 percent in December, but the cost of living remains elevated for many households. This affordability challenge is the result of fiscal excess and politicized policymaking that have raised costs while undermining confidence in the U.S. economy.” (02/19/26)
https://www.cato.org/commentary/consumer-confidence-sags-policy-prescriptions-miss-mark
- US War on Iran Would Be a Cynical, Lawless, and Catastrophic Escalation
Source: Common Dreams
by Nicolas JS Davies“After some delays, the United States is dispatching a second aircraft-carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, from the Caribbean to the Middle East to join the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group and threaten Iran. This is the third Atlantic crossing for the Ford’s crew since it set sail from Norfolk, Virginia, in June 2025, and the second time its deployment has been extended, first to redeploy from the Middle East to the Caribbean, and now to redeploy back to the Middle East. There is a grave danger that the US government is preparing to exploit the genuine sympathy of people all over the world for the Iranian civilians massacred during protests in December and January as a pretext for an illegal military assault on Iran.” (02/19/26)
- We need to talk about the right’s new voter suppression target: Women
Source: Liberal Currents
by Alan Elrod“The SAVE Act would make it harder for married women in particular to vote, and that is just one part of the MAGA right’s misogynist project.” (02/19/26)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/we-need-to-talk-about-the-rights-new-voter-suppression-target-women/
- A Very Liberal Conservative
Source: Law & LIberty
by Max Skjönsberg“Josiah Tucker (1713–99), dean of Gloucester Cathedral in England, is best known in the history of political thought as a proto-conservative who had the audacity to question the Lockean natural rights school in the age of the American Revolution. The rebellious spirit of the American Revolution, and even more so its supporters in Britain, made him suspicious of Locke’s theory of government based on the social contract and consent. As a consequence, Tucker is a neglected and underrated thinker who contributed to both the conservative and liberal traditions; his Political and Economic Writings repay careful study.” (02/19/26)
- Phillis Wheatley and Black Heroes of the Revolution
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Lawrence W Reed“Whether free or slave, did black Americans play a role in the fight for liberty during the American Revolutionary era? Yes indeed, they did. It’s a story that didn’t earn much attention in history books until recent decades. When I was in school in the 1950s and 1960s, I think I heard of just one of them, Crispus Attucks, a black sailor who was the first person killed by British soldiers in the March 1770 Boston Massacre. Black people were to be found among both patriots and loyalists, depending in large part on which side seemed more likely to advance their prospects for freedom.” (02/19/26)
https://fee.org/articles/phillis-wheatley-and-black-heroes-of-the-revolution/
- You Cannot Beat Nihilism with Nihilism
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Thomas Harrington“Today, Barcelona is today one of the great tourist destinations of the Western world. Fifty years ago, however, it was a somewhat dusty backwater still smarting from the punishments inflicted on it by the Franco regime (1939-1975) for its citizens’ stubborn refusal to abandon their attachment to the Catalan language and culture, and for having served as the nerve center of the defeated Second Spanish Republic (1931-1939) during the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) eventually won by the Nationalist general. The city’s dramatic transformation is rooted in actions taken under the leadership of Mayor Pasqual Maragall in the six or so years leading to the city’s hosting of the 1992 Summer Olympics. While the mayor of every Olympic venue promises that the Games will enduringly change his city for the better, this actually occurred in Maragall’s Barcelona, especially in the realm of public infrastructure.” (02/19/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/you-cannot-beat-nihilism-with-nihilism/
- Virtual Fencing for Conservation
Source: Property and Environment Research Center
by Sophie Gilbert“A roadmap for making rangelands work better for livestock and wildlife.” (02/19/26)
https://www.perc.org/2026/02/19/virtual-fencing-for-conservation/
- Beijing’s Leninist-Nationalist
Source: Law & Liberty
by Samuel Gregg“Kevin Rudd’s book provides a masterful analysis of Xi Jinping’s ideological springs and what they mean for China.” (02/19/26)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/beijings-leninist-nationalist/
- Conservatives’ “Talking Filibuster” Scheme Isn’t the Norm in the Senate
Source: Exiled Policy
by Jason Pye“Conservatives want you to believe that the ‘talking filibuster’ is the norm in the Senate. This is misleading. What these conservatives aren’t describing is how the Senate actually works today. Before the adoption of the cloture motion in 1917 — found in Rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate — there wasn’t a way to force an end to debate. Prior to 1917, senators could use various tactics to stop a bill from moving forward, ranging from objecting to unanimous consent to engaging in a talking filibuster. What we think of as the modern-day filibuster—the cloture motion—was created out of necessity during World War I, after the Senate proved incapable of ending debate on critical wartime legislation.” (02/19/26)
https://exiledpolicy.substack.com/p/conservatives-talking-filibuster
- How Stephen Colbert conned Dem donors and burned Jasmine Crockett
Source: Fox News
by David Marcus“Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico’s campaign is $2.5 million richer this week and a bit closer to victory after Stephen Colbert, host of ‘The Late Show’ on CBS, made up a ridiculous lie about being censored by President Trump. It took a few days for the dust to settle, but now that we have a clear picture of what happened, it is about as bad as it can be. In fact, it would likely be a fireable offense if the ratings challenged Colbert was not already slated to get the ax in May. According to Colbert’s version of events, which is falling apart faster than a house of cards in a wind tunnel, he was told by CBS lawyers on Monday, just minutes before he was set to interview Talarico, that he could not air the conversation. Why? Because of the Trump administration Federal Communication Commission’s new rules on equal time.” (02/19/26)
- The Ugly Americans
Source: CounterPunch
by John Kendall Hawkins“In the classic Cold War film The Ugly American, Marlon Brando plays an American ambassador neck-deep in the kind of covert operations that would later get tens of thousands of Vietnamese killed. The film gave us a phrase, but most people forgot what it actually meant. Burdick and Lederer’s novel portrays the ‘ugly American’ as Homer Atkins, a straightforward engineer who genuinely cared about the locals and actively listened to their perspectives. The real ugliness came from the polished diplomats who saw Southeast Asians as pieces on a chessboard. Sixty years on, we’ve become exactly what we pretended to oppose. Only worse.” (02/19/26)
- Venezuela’s Oil and the Death of a Latin American Dream
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ted Snider“On January 29, Venezuela’s acting President, Delcy Rodríguez, signed a law that opens Venezuela’s oil industry to privatization. With the stroke of a pen, Rodríguez signed, not only the law, but the death certificate of a decades old Latin American dream.” (02/19/26)
- Bail for All, Except Undocumented Immigrants
Source: Washington Monthly
by James D Zirin“The Fifth Circuit embraces a radical vision of endless detention, as does the Trump administration. Will it be too much even for the Roberts Court?” (02/19/26)
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2026/02/19/detention-without-bond-fifth-circuit/
- The Fifth Column, episode 545
Source: The Fifth Column
“Ambiguity in the Age of Outrage (w/ Jon Meacham).” (02/19/26)
https://www.wethefifth.com/p/ambiguity-in-the-age-of-outrage-w
- The Libertarian Angle, 02/19/26
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“Trump’s Oil Siege Against Cuba.” (02/19/26)
- Talking Banfield
Source: Bet On It
“[Bryan Caplan’s] conversation with Kevin Kosar.” (02/19/26)
- Capital Record, episode 285
Source: National Review
“A Report Card on Corporate America.” (02/19/26)
https://www.nationalreview.com/podcasts/capital-record/a-report-card-on-corporate-america/
- Half the Answer, episode 66
Source: Liberal Currents
“CBP and ICE Report: New Orleans, Minneapolis, Greg Bovino & Apple Pie.” (02/19/26)
- The Lou Perez Podcast, 02/19/26
Source: Lions of Liberty
“Neoborn Caveman — Everything is Blurry.” (02/19/26)
https://www.lionsofliberty.com/episodes/tlpp-neoborn-caveman-everything-is-blurry
- The Editors, 02/19/26
Source: National Review
“State of the Union Pregaming.” (02/19/26)
https://www.nationalreview.com/podcasts/the-editors/state-of-the-union-pregaming/
- Underthrow Podcast, 02/19/26
Source: Underthrow
“America has a Corruption Contagion only the People Can Cure w/ Max Borders.” (02/19/26)
- Ron Paul Liberty Report, 02/19/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“The Iran Deception, With Guest Dr. Matt Rostami.” (02/19/26)
- The Commentary Magazine Podcast, 02/19/26
Source: Commentary
“Tarmac Tucker.” (02/19/26)
https://www.commentary.org/nblumcommentary-org/tarmac-tucker/
- Cato Daily Podcast, 02/19/26
Source: Cato Institute
“No Tax on Tips and Overtime? Not So Fast.” (02/19/26)
https://www.cato.org/multimedia/cato-podcast/no-tax-tips-overtime-not-so-fast
- Bulwark Takes, 02/19/26
Source: The Bulwark
“Former General: Hegseth’s Loyalty Tests Are Paralyzing Military Promotions.” (02/19/26)
- SolutionsWatch, 02/19/26
Source: The Corbett Report
“Escaping Energy Poverty.” (02/19/26)
https://corbettreport.com/escaping-energy-poverty-solutionswatch/